Buskers help Christchurch festival buck up after financial woes

Some of the world's best acrobats, jugglers and dance performers are ready to perform at the World Buskers Festival in Christchurch, which began today.

Five-hundred performances are set to take place in Christchurch during the World Buskers Festival. Photo: RNZ / Dan Dalgety

The annual event is the country's largest outdoor festival and has in previous years been a highlight of the Christchurch summer.

In recent years, the festival has struggled financially, but organisers say this year it is back on track.

More than 50 acts and 500 performances are set to take place in Christchurch, and it has a serious spin-off for the city.

ChristchurchNZ, the city's economic development agency, said the festival was expected to inject more than $5 million into the local economy and bring 300,000 visitors to the city.

One of the groups performing was the Daredevil Chicken Club, who mix dancing and catching bananas.

Performers Anne Goldman and Jonathan Taylor are from the United States and had to think outside the box when creating their act.

"We were going to do a ping-pong [ball] act - where you spit the ping-pong [ball] back and forth, and a friend of ours said 'you gotta think of something funnier and may be more gross'. So bananas, that came up in conversation."

They said they did not need a lot of practice.

"We usually practice in front of the audience. We've done this festival maybe 10 times. What we're doing is we've kind of improvised and evolved it in front of this audience for years."

In 2017, the festival left local ratepayers about $160,000 out of pocket, but one of this year's festival organisers Jess Rankin said they were confident their financial troubles were behind them.

"I think [the festival is] definitely moving in a different direction, particularly on [the financial] angle. We're still retaining a lot of what's really important about the 25-year history of the festival and really trying to honour that as best as possible."

Hot Brown Honey will be one of the 50 acts performing at the World Buskers Festival in Christchurch. Photo: RNZ / Dan Dalgety

Ms Rankin said the event's longer schedule should help them post a profit.

"Keeping the tent here for a bit longer is something that can help kind of bolster [the finances], which means the festival can continue longer. We want to see it happening in Christchurch for as long as we can."

General manager Loren Heaphy from ChristchurchNZ, which works to attract visitors to the city, said the event would draw more people into central Christchurch.

"This is our number one, pivotal event for the summer season. Obviously, we've got a number of other sporting events that happen at this time of year - and it's bringing a lot more people into the central city."

He said he was ready to perform, but needed his luggage to turn up first.

"The airline lost my luggage. I have my priceless mask, prints of my artwork, I have obviously my clothes. May be one of the biggest losses is a disk drive that contains a lot of my work. I have hope it will turn up."

This is the 26th year the World Buskers Festival was being staged in Christchurch and runs until 3 February.